Almost half “out of financial need”
Around one in eight pensioners continued to work after receiving their first pension, according to data from INE (Statistics Portugal), released today.
“The majority of pensioners (57.5%) indicated that they stopped working when they received their first old-age pension, and 29.3% were no longer working at that time, but 13.2% continued working,” according to the results of the 2023 module of the Employment Survey on Pensions and Participation in the Labour Market.
INE indicates that almost half (46.5 %) of pensioners who continued to work “did so mainly out of financial need”, while 30.8 % wanted to continue being productive and 10.9% cited “a need to remain socially integrated”.
Almost all old-age pensioners received a statutory pension, with 98.0% of pensions paid either by Social Security or the Caixa Geral de Aposentações.
According to INE, there were 1.15 million people receiving old age pensions, the equivalent of 33.4% of the resident population aged between 50 and 74, in 2023. (In the autonomous regions of the Azores (26.3%) and Madeira (25.8%) the proportions of pension beneficiaries were “significantly lower than the result of 33.7% on the mainland.”)
Among statutory pensioners, 56.8% received their first pension without any bonus or penalty, while 38.5% left the labour market before securing their full pension – which resulted in a penalty – and 4.7% received a bonus for delaying the age at which they received their first old-age pension.
The results of the module also showed that 70% of pensioners receive pensions of up to €1,000. “Of these, the majority receive pensions of no more than €600 ,” says INE.
INE also analysed the difference between men and women, with 9.0% of women receiving under €300 and only 2.4% of men.
More than half of women (56.3 %) receive pensions between €300 and €600 , compared to 35.3 % of men.
At the top of the pyramid, with old-age pensions above €2,000 are 8.0% of male pensioners and 4.0% of female pensioners.
Source: LUSA
